Published July 29, 2021, 12:40 PM The lack of a Cabinet position in the Duterte administration taught Vice President Leni Robredo the old Filipino saying, “mamaluktot kapag maiksi ang kumot (curl up when the blanket is short)” that forced her office to be creative to “expand our mandate.” Vice President Leni Robredo delivers a keynote speech at the 5th Asian Philanthropic Development Conference on July 28, 2021. (APDC Screenshot) Five years into her term, Robredo is already looking at what her office could’ve achieved if only she “had good working relations” with President Duterte. “When I became Vice President, I’m supposed to be the second-highest official of the land but I discovered, Father, that I don’t have that much mandate. If you look at the Constitution, my only mandate is succession. And our office, the Office of the Vice President, has one of the smallest budget[s] in the entire bureaucracy,” she told Fr. Francis Lucas at the 5th Asian Philanthropic Development Conference.